Digital Commons Network^™

The Lawyer As Accomplice: Cannabis, Uber, Airbnb, And The Ethics Of Advising “Disruptive” Businesses, Charles M. Yablon

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This Article examines the legal and ethical problems of corporate lawyers who advise businesses that operate just beyond the edge of legality. These include manufacturers and sellers of cannabis products (a felony under federal law, even if ostensibly permitted by state statutes) as well as a substantial number of startup companies, like Uber and Airbnb, whose “disruptive” business models involve deliberately violating local laws and ordinances, many of which carry criminal penalties. Under the current Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer “shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is …

Effectiveness Of Prescribed Fire To Re-Establish Sagebrush Steppe Vegetation And Ecohydrologic Function On Woodland-Encroached Sagebrush Reangelands, Great Basin, Usa: Part Ii: Runoff And Sediment Transport At The Patch Scale, Sayjro K. Nouwakpo, Christopher Jason Williams, Frederick B. Pierson, Mark A. Weltz, Patrick R. Kormos, Osama Z. Al-Hamdan

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Woody species encroachment into herbaceous and shrub-dominated vegetations is a concern in many rangeland ecosystems of the world. Arrival of woody species into affected rangelands leads to changes in the spatial structure of vegetation and alterations of biophysical processes. In the western USA, encroachment of pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) tree species into sagebrush steppes poses a threat to the proper ecohydrological functioning of these ecosystems. Prescribed fire has been proposed and used as one rangeland improvement practice to restore sagebrush steppe from pinyon-juniper encroachment. Short-term effects of burning on the ecohydrologic response of these systems …

Size Matters: The Impact Of Training Size In Taxonomically-Enriched Word Embeddings, Alfredo Maldonado, Filip Klubicka, John D. Kelleher

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Word embeddings trained on natural corpora (e.g., newspaper collections, Wikipedia or the Web) excel in capturing thematic similarity (“topical relatedness”) on word pairs such as ‘coffee’ and ‘cup’ or ’bus’ and ‘road’. However, they are less successful on pairs showing taxonomic similarity, like ‘cup’ and ‘mug’ (near synonyms) or ‘bus’ and ‘train’ (types of public transport). Moreover, purely taxonomy-based embeddings (e.g. those trained on a random-walk of WordNet’s structure) outperform natural-corpus embeddings in taxonomic similarity but underperform them in thematic similarity. Previous work suggests that performance gains in both types of similarity can be achieved by enriching natural-corpus embeddings with …

Assessing The Quality Of Mobile Graphical User Interfaces Using Multi-Objective Optimization, Soui, Makram, Mabrouka Chouchane, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Marouane Kessentini, Khaled Ghedira

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Aesthetic defects are a violation of quality attributes that are symptoms of bad interface design programming decisions. They lead to deteriorating the perceived usability of mobile user interfaces and negatively impact the Users eXperience (UX) with the mobile app. Most existing studies relied on a subjective evaluation of aesthetic defects depending on end-users feedback, which makes the manual evaluation of mobile user interfaces human-centric, time-consuming, and error-prone. Therefore, recent studies have dedicated their effort to focus on the definition of mathematical formulas that each targets a specific structural quality of the interface. As the UX is tightly dependent on the …

Fine-Scale Haplotype Structure Reveals Strong Signatures Of Positive Selection In A Recombining Bacterial Pathogen, Brian Arnold, Mashaal Sohail, Crista B. Wadsworth, Jukka Corander, William P. Hanage, Shamil Sunyaev, Yonatan H. Grad

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Identifying genetic variation in bacteria that has been shaped by ecological differences remains an important challenge. For recombining bacteria, the sign and strength of linkage provide a unique lens into ongoing selection. We show that derived alleles linkage, a pattern that cannot be explained by limited recombination or neutrality as these couplings are significantly stronger for nonsynonymous alleles than synonymous alleles. This general pattern is driven by a small fraction of highly diverse genes, many of which exhibit evidence of interspecies horizontal gene transfer and an excess of intermediate frequency alleles. Extensive simulations show that two distinct forms of positive …

Potential Liability For Physicians Using Artificial Intelligence, W. Nicholson Price Ii, Sara Gerke, I Glenn Cohen

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly making inroads into medical practice, especially in forms that rely on machine learning, with a mix of hope and hype. Multiple AI-based products have now been approved or cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and health systems and hospitals are increasingly deploying AI-based systems. For example, medical AI can support clinical decisions, such as recommending drugs or dosages or interpreting radiological images.2 One key difference from most traditional clinical decision support software is that some medical AI may communicate results or recommendations to the care team without being able to communicate the …

Low-Dose (0.01%) Atropine Eye Drops To Reduce Progression Of Myopia In Children: A Multi-Centre Placebo- Controlled Randomised Trial In The United Kingdom (Champ- Uk) – Study Protocol., Augusto Azuara-Blanco, Nicola Logan, Niall Strang, Peter Allen, Ruth Hogg, Ruth Weir, Paul Doherty, Catherine Adams, Margaret Mcfarland, Evie Gardner, Rejina Verghis, Jennifer Preston, James Loughman, Daniel I. Flintcroft, David Mackey, Samantha Lee, Christopher Hammond, Nathan Congdon, Mike Clarke

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Background/aims To report the protocol of a trial designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety and mechanism of action of low-dose atropine (0.01%) eye-drops for reducing progression of myopia in UK children. Methods Multicentre, double-masked, superiority, placebo-controlled, randomised trial. We will enrol children aged 6–12 years with myopia of −0.50 dioptres or worse in both eyes. We will recruit 289 participants with an allocation ratio of 2:1 (193 atropine; 96 placebo) from five centres. Participants will instil one drop in each eye every day for 2 years and attend a research centre every 6 months. The vehicle and preservative will be …

Data Mining Raman Microspectroscopic Responses Of Cells To Drugs In Vitro Using Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares, David Perez-Guaita, Guillermo Quintas, Zeineb Farhane, Roma Tauler, Hugh Byrne

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Raman microspectroscopy is gaining popularity for the analysis of time-dependent biological processes such as drug uptake and cellular response. It is a label-free technique which acquires signals from a large variety of components, including cell biomolecules and exogenous compounds such as drugs and nanoparticles, and is commonly employed for in vitro analysis of cells and cell populations with no labelling or staining required. By monitoring the changes to the Raman spectra of the cell as a result of a perturbing agent (e.g. inoculation of a drug or toxic agent), one can study the associated changes in cell biochemistry involved in …

Media Literacy Ireland And The Be Media Smart Campaign, Philip Russell

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‘Be Media Smart’ is an Irish public awareness campaign calling on people of all ages to ‘Be Media Smart’ and ‘Stop, Think, and Check’ that information they see, read or hear across any media platform is accurate and reliable. This national media literacy campaign was aimed at enhancing people’s understanding of, and engagement with, media, while also empowering them with the skills to evaluate content across all platforms.

Jean Sulivan: Prophetic Voice With An Important Message For The Irish Church, Eamon Maher

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The French priest writer Jean Sulivan (1913-1980), whose real name was Joseph Lemarchand, was born in the small village of Montauban-de-Bretagne. He lost his father in the trenches of the Great War, an event that led to the remarriage of his mother out of financial necessity and which came as a serious blow to her young son. He could never fully accept the presence of his step-father in the house even though he knew his mother had had no option other than to remarry if she wanted to hold on to the small farm she rented from a local doctor. …

What Is The Role Of Faith In Our Politics?, Eamon Maher

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Forty years ago this month, Pope John Paul II came to Ireland. I was just beginning my last year in school at Saint Columb's College, Derry. It was a tense time. In the three months leading up to the pope's visit, 36 people were killed in the Troubles - including 16 Catholic and Protestant civilians. In 1979 I went to see the Pope at Drogheda and subconsciously I think his words on that occasion have possibly framed much of my thinking about this evening's theme - the role of faith in our politics.

Thermal Refurbishment Status Of The Irish Housing Stock, Ciara Ahern, Brian Norton

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Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are issued for buildings constructed, sold or leased across the EU. Using a generalizable methodology this work exploits Ireland’s EPC national dwelling stock database to determine the thermal refurbishment status of Ireland’s housing stock. It is estimated in 2014 that; i) 58% of walls were insulated at a mean overall heat loss coefficient or U-value of 0.66 W/m 2 K, ii) 67% of roofs were insulated at a mean U-value 0.37 W/m 2 K, iii) 97% of windows were double-glazed, and iv) 53% of floors were insulated to a mean U-value of 0.59 W/m 2 K. …

The Effect Of Calcium Alginate Entrapment On The Stability Of Novel Lipases From P. Reinekei And P. Brenneri, Priyanka Priyanka, Gemma K. Kinsella, Gary T. Henehan, Barry J. Ryan

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The high cost of soluble enzymes can limit their use for commercial and industrial purposes. Immobilization can enhance enzyme reusability, thereby reducing product isolation costs and overcoming this economic barrier. In the current study, two novel, purified lipases from Pseudomonas sp. (Pseudomonas reinekei and Pseudomonas brenneri) were entrapped in a calcium alginate matrix, with the aim of simultaneously enhancing enzyme reusability and stability. Following entrapment, the retained activity of the enzyme-alginate composite was verified by an enzymatic hydrolysis reaction of a p-nitrophenol palmitate substrate. The effect of the enzyme-alginate entrapment against various physiochemical parameters such as pH, temperature, metal ions, …

Ecosystem Competition And The Antitrust Laws, Daniel A. Crane

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Conventional antitrust norms analyze market power—as a stepping stone to anticompetitive effects and, hence, prohibited conduct—from the perspective of product substitutability. Two goods or services are said to compete with one another when they are reasonably interchangeable from the perspective of consumers, or to put it in more formal economic terms, when there is cross-elasticity of demand between them. Conversely, when two goods or services are not reasonably interchangeable, they are not horizontally related and are said not to compete with one another. Since a concern over horizontal agreements and horizontal effects dominate antitrust—courts even analyze vertical agreement or merger …

Nonprofit College Crash: Enforcing Board Fiduciaries Through Increased Accountability And Transparency In The Irs Form 990 Procedure, Kaleb Paul Byars

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Since 1997, the United States has experienced a steady increase in college closings. Private, nonprofit colleges are the most prevalent among these affected institutions. A 2017 study confirmed that 177 colleges failed a U.S. Education Department test for “financial responsibility.” Of these 177 colleges, well over half are private nonprofits. Further, several colleges have closed since the study was completed. It is reasonable to conclude the financial irresponsibility of these schools contributes to their closures. ...

Part I describes fiduciary duties of nonprofit board members and instances of their failure. Part II discusses inadequate nonprofit oversight and provides information regarding …

What Can The Apple Teach The Orange? Lessons U.S. Land Trusts Can Learn From The National Trust In The U.K., Jessica Owley, Lauren Gwin, Sally K. Fairfax

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The National Trust in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is one of the oldest and most revered private land conservation organizations in the world. While the private land conservation movements in the United States and the United Kingdom began at a similar time and with similar tools, conservation attitudes and methods in the two countries diverged. Today, the National Trust dominates land conservation in the U.K. while the strength of the U.S. movement is the energy of over 1,500 smaller organizations operating at different scales across the country. Despite the differences, this project looks to the National Trust in England …

Madison And Shannon On Social Media, Gus Hurwitz

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The Internet has changed speech, and our traditional understandings of speech regulation are struggling to adapt. This article argues that the Internet has tipped the quantity of information that individuals are exposed to beyond the point which they are able to meaningfully process. This article draws from a range of fields— from Information Theory, to cognitive psychology, to informatics—to provide both empirical and theoretical support for the idea that there is a limit to how much information individuals can meaningfully process and that we have surpassed that limit. This argument poses a direct challenge to bedrock First Amendment concepts such …

Survey Of Recent Halakhic Literature: Validity Of Dna Evidence For Halakhic Purposes (Part 1), J. David Bleich

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No abstract provided.

Mere Conduit, David G. Carlson

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"Mere conduit" is a legal fiction in fraudulent transfer and other avoidance cases. This article argues that the legal fiction is misleading, unnecessary and rendered obsolete by the Supreme Court's recent opinion in Merit Management Group v. FTI Consulting, Inc. (2018). The article further contends that a huge majority of leading cases confound fraudulent transfer law with the law of corporate theft. This error leads to depriving financial intermediaries of their opportunity to avoid liability on the ground of being bona fide transferees for value. Finally, courts often mistake banks as initial transferees of fraudulent transfers (absolutely liable in spite …

Corrosion Protection Of Monel Alloy Coated With Graphene Quantum Dots Starts With A Surge, Ksv Santhanam, Charles Bopp

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There has been an active interest in protecting metals and alloys using graphene coating. The mechanism by which corrosion protection occurs has not been well understood as the couple involved are both good electron conductors. In this work, we demonstrate that Monel alloy coated with graphene quantum dots (GQD) changes the corrosion rate with a surge (increase) caused by the galvanic coupling of the two materials. This surge results in the protective layer formation on Monel to inhibit the corrosion. X-ray fluorescence spectrum of Monel (400) alloy showed the composition of it as Ni (67.05%) and Cu (29.42%). The Tafel …

New Textualism And The Thirteenth Amendment, Leah Litman

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Michele Goodwin’s piece raises important questions about whether troubling modern-day labor practices in jails and prisons are consistent with the Thirteenth Amendment. In Goodwin’s telling, the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment formally ended the institution of slavery, but the Amendment allowed practices resembling slavery to continue, perhaps reflecting the extant stereotypes and racism that formally amending the Constitution cannot root out. Indeed, Goodwin excavates historical materials that suggest the people who drafted and ratified the Amendment understood and expected that it would allow the perpetuation of slavery in another form. As Goodwin explains, most historians have argued that the Thirteenth …

Accelerated Capital Allowances: An Overview, Bernard Doherty, James Mc Mahon, William Coffey, Ger Nagle, Kevin Delaney

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ACA is based on the existing capital allowances tax structure or wear and tear allowance, for plants and machinery. Claiming the ACA is carried out the same way as for the standard capital allowances.

Organisations who invest in eligible energy-efficient capital equipment can deduct the full cost of the equipment from their profits in the year of purchase. This reduces the taxable profit in year one by the full cost of the equipment.

Response To: How Should We Respond To Pregnancy And Substance Use?, Frank E. E. Vandervort, Vincent J. Palusci

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We begin our reply by asking the reader to consider this typical case taken from Professor Vandervort’s current practice. It is one of several similar cases currently being handled by the clinic he works in and similar to many dozens—perhaps hundreds—of cases handled over the past 30 years.

To Protect And Provide For Children, Prenatal Substance Use Must Be Considered Abuse., Frank E. E. Vandervort, Vincent J. Palusci

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The use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy is harmful to the developing child. When children are born having been exposed to these substances, children’s protective services should uniformly substantiate child maltreatment in order to ensure that the child’s parent(s) and the child receive the treatment and services necessary to address the child’s immediate safety, protect the government’s compelling interest in the child’s welfare, and ensure the best long-term outcome for the child.

The Indian Child Welfare Act: A Brief Overview To Contextualize Current Controversies., Frank E. E. Vandervort

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Congress passed and the president signed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) into federal law in 1978. Because the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to make law regarding Indian tribes, ICWA’s provisions are mandatory, unlike other federal child welfare legislation such as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which are voluntary. State authorities handling any case involving an “Indian child” must comply with ICWA.

Returning Home When Immigration Fails: Risk Factors And The Need For Improved Care, Albina Balidemaj, Small, Mark

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Migrating is stressful. Even under the best of circumstances, voluntarily moving from one’s home country to another country requires careful consideration of several potentially stressful factors. A non-exhaustive list would include transportation, housing, finances, social support, language proficiency, and acculturation issues. In 2017, an estimated 68 million persons involuntarily migrated – 40 million internally displaced persons, 25 million refugees and 3 million asylum seekers (United Nations, 2017). Forcible displacement puts individuals and families at even greater risk of stress related to moving – as there is generally less time available for planning. What happens when immigration fails, particularly for those …

Seaweeds As Nutraceuticals For Health And Nutrition, Emer Shannon, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

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Throughout human history, seaweeds have been used as food, folk remedies, dyes, and as mineral-rich fertilisers. Seaweeds as nutraceuticals or functional foods with dietary benefits beyond their fundamental macronutrient content are now a major research and industrial development concept. The occurrence of dietary and lifestyle related diseases, notably type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer, and metabolic syndrome has become a health epidemic in developed countries. Global epidemiological studies have shown that countries where seaweed is consumed on a regular basis have significantly fewer instances of obesity and dietary-related disease. This review outlines recent developments in seaweed applications for human health from …

School Of Culinary Arts & Food Technology, Technological University Dublin Newsletter: Autumn, 2019, James Murphy

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The School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, TU Dublin, Autumn Newsletter captured the many events, research, awards, significant contributions and special civic and community activities which the students and staff members of the school have successfully completed up to the Autumn period of 2019. The successful completion of these activities would not be possible without the active and on-going support of the 'INSPIRED' friends of Culinary Arts (school supporters) and our school's industry association supporters.

Cold Atmospheric Plasma Induces Accumulation Of Lysosomes And Caspase-Independent Cell Death In U373mg Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells, Gillian Conway, Zhonglei He, Ana L. Hutanu, George P. Cribaro, Eline Manaloto, Alan Casey, Damien Traynor, Vladimir Milosavljevic, Orla Howe, Carlos Barcia, James T. Murray, Patrick Cullen, James Curtin

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Room temperature Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) has shown promising efficacy for the treatment of cancer but the exact mechanisms of action remain unclear. Both apoptosis and necrosis have been implicated as the mode of cell death in various cancer cells. We have previously demonstrated a caspase-independent mechanism of cell death in p53-mutated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells exposed to plasma. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in caspase-independent cell death induced by plasma treatment. We demonstrate that plasma induces rapid cell death in GBM cells, independent of caspases. Accumulation of vesicles was observed in plasma …

Ireland In The European Eye: At Home In The Heart Of Europe : Book Review: An Excellent Analysis Of Ireland’S Interactions With Its European Allies, Eamon Maher

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This essay collection provides an excellent analysis of Ireland’s various interactions with its European allies, from the early medieval period up to the present moment. The essays cover things as diverse as history, religion, literature, tourism, politics, trade, journalism, architecture, music and film in 22 chapters by experts from various disciplines, who serve up an informative and welcome survey that emphasises the historical ties that bind the Emerald Isle to its largest neighbour and the Continent.